[PW] ?reviews for high-end sewing machines

[Kay Lancaster]

On Fri, 6 Apr 2007, Pam McLaughlin wrote:

> My patron is interested in consumer reviews for high-end (we're talking
> list prices of $3000 and up) sewing machines.

The market for such machines is really relatively small, so I 
doubt you'll find much "Consumer Reports"-like comparisons.
However, Threads magazine did a story on TOL machines in 2004:
http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/tvt046.asp and Sew News does
a comparison of features chart (last one in the Aug 2006 issue.
Some of the machine embroidery magazines may also have 
comparisons if that's a function wanted (many folks seem to 
prefer an embroidery-only machine and a sewing-only machine
for about the same price as a TOL do-everything machine).

I'd tend to suggest your patron might want to ask questions about 
particular machines in groups like 
creativemachine at yahoogroups.com, or read reviews of particular 
machines at patternreviews.com.
 
And I'll toss in my own 2 cents: unless you're very sure you 
won't need any hand-holding, buy from a dealer who can and will 
provide instruction and timely repairs.  Grey market machines can 
be very difficult to get serviced, I understand.

Kay